tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116994532024-03-07T16:53:38.494-08:00Prime Time Crime's - Crime & PunishmentComment and discussion about crime, justice and related issues.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-1788430077858646852009-07-24T15:06:00.007-07:002009-07-26T19:43:16.974-07:00Playing the race card shows own prejudice<p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Last week in Cambridge Mass., Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct and first Gates through the media, and then on Wednesday, President Barack Obama, turned it into an issue of race. Professor Gates is black you see and an articulate and well-respected intellectual. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">But claims that this is about race is a red herring at best and blatent character assassination of a professional, veteran police officer, Sgt. James Crowley, at worst.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">The facts don't seem to be in dispute only the interpretation regurgitated by the tongue-cluckers who seem unable to separate the wheat from the chaff in all of this.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Professor Gates was returning from a trip and took a cab home. He had evidently forgotten his keys and together with the assistance of the also black cab driver, managed to force his way into the house. Unbeknownst to him, a woman observing the efforts to force entry into the home called 9-1-1 and said two black men were breaking into the house. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Now, lest we get distracted too early, the complainant was white and the men were black, yes. But, when the witness is asked to describe the indviduals she believes is breaking into a residence she can only state the obvious. Any suggestion to the contrary is specious.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Sgt. Crowley along with three other officers, one of whom was also black for the record, responded to the burglary in progress, a Priority One call in any jurisdiction in North America. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Upon arrival, Sgt. Crowley observed Professor Gates and instead of arresting him at gunpoint, which I might add might well have happened in any other jurisdiction which did not include Harvard, simply asked the good professor for identification to establish whether he belonged in the home. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Professor Gates responded with vitriol and abuse that was uncalled for and undeserved. He started the discourse by accusing the officer of racism with his first words in response to the request for ID when he said, "Why, because I am a black man in America?" Gee, no sir, it is because the police are responding to a break-in in progress call and they found you there so it might just be considered reasonable for them to ask if, in fact, you were a burglar or the rightful resident. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Gates kept up the abuse and was ultimately arrested and charged with the disorderly conduct offenses.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Gates, after he was released from custody a few hours later, clamboured up on his high horse and began his tirade of nonsense. The mainstream media gleefully picked up the clarion call of racism against the Cambridge police without putting the blame for the arrest on the one person who caused it to happen - Professor Gates. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">And that's where the story might have died were it not for that silver-tongued orator and rhetoritician, Barack Obama, who fanned the dying embers of the story by saying when asked at the tail end of a press conference, what he thought of the story. "Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it is fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry." Well, he was right in that he hadn't seen the facts and that he wasn't there and didn't know if race played a role. And he should have shut his mouth having already said too much at that point. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">But he couldn't resist his own underlying prejudices, now could he?</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">He continued, "Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home and number three, I think we know separately and apart from this incident, there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enorcement disproportionately, that's just a fact. Race remains a factor in this society. That does not lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony to the progress that has been made but the fact of the matter is this still haunts us."</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Ask the guy a question and get a speech in response. But it wasn't just the usual rhetoric and stuff and nonsense that has become his trademark. No, after admitting he didn't have the facts to form an opinion he did just that and said the police acted "stupidly." What? No they did not. In point of fact, Sgt. Crowley acted out of respect and professionalism, showing his experience when he didn't point a gun at the first sight of Gates and secure him, on the ground and in cuffs, prior to establishing he had a right to be there. Because, on any 'in progress' call, 9 times out of ten that's what would happen. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">In this case, Crowley sensed this wasn't what it appeared to be to the complainant and was proceeding according to that sixth sense. He merely asked Gates to identify himself so that he could establish that the two black men who were seen breaking into the house had the right to do that. It was Gates who acted viscerally and verbally violent to the police officer. Well, guess what? He deserved to get arrested whether he was black, white, purple or a European blue blood. It was his behaviour and his abusive mouth and his own prejudice that triggered the arrest. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Even the 24 hour, all-Obama news network formerly known as CNN, seemed to sense that. By Thursday evening they were suggesting in hushed terms that maybe, just maybe, Obama should not have spoken out in such an irresponsible manner. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">This case has nothing to do with racism on the part of the police and has everything to do with the blind ideology of Gates and unfortunately, the President of the United States. Sgt. Crowley can stand on the higher moral ground in this matter. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Unfortunately, he is alone in that regard.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Leo Knight</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-78919650182507444592009-06-27T21:03:00.005-07:002009-07-04T21:00:43.276-07:00Plus ca change...<p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">News items ran this week trumpeting that Canada was the methamphetimine production capital of the world and honorable mention was given to our position as the Ecstasy capital as well. Many media outlets clucked their Holier-Than-Thou tongues about this as though it was something new. Well, it isn't and not by a long shot.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Warnings have been going out for at least 15 years that the media has written about or been otherwise informed about. Yet, higher purpose papers like the Globe & Mail seem to have just discovered this nugget of information as evidenced by their <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/no-one-remedy-for-the-ecstasy-trade/article1197955/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; color:#0000ff;">main editorial</span></a> on Friday.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">There is nothing new or magical about this. In the past 15-20 years Canada has become a major drug producing country on a parallel with Columbia. We just don't have the sweaty jungles.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">But we certainly do have the violence that goes with that territory. And we have seen the intimidation attempts on law enforcement and participants in the justice system. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">How did we get here? </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Well now, there's a question. And the short answer is the lurch to the political left this country has taken in the past forty years. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">In the '70s the rule of law was that evidence, no matter how gained, was admissible. Now, a bloody murder weapon found in the hands of an accused can be excluded as evidence for a myriad of procedural issues that have nothing to do with justice and everything to do with lining lawyers' pockets.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Equally, in the '70s, if you committed a serious crime there was a reasonable chance you were going to go to jail. Not anymore. It is nigh on impossible to go to jail in Canada, despite what the left would like you to believe. Yes, the courts still send people to jail for things like murder and kidnapping and sometimes armed robbery and sexual assault. But that's about it. And then, typically not for very long. Commit any property crime, even one that has a penalty of up to life in prison and see if you go to jail for any length of time. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">You will likely get a conditional sentence. Or, if you have about 100 prior convictions you may actually get a short custodial sentence. Maybe.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">The reality is that our justice system is a joke to criminals. They know they can do whatever they want with impugnity. Murder is cheap in Canada. Property is not really yours and all your efforts to get ahead and make a better life means nothing against the rights of the Bobby Logans of the world.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Ah yes, Bobby Logan, junkie, thief, ne'er do well and all around waste of good oxygen. He's back in the news after yet again being arrested for . . . SURPRISE! . . . . a series of residential B & E's. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Regular readers will recall a series of pieces I wrote in <span style="text-decoration: underline ; color:#0000ff;"><a href="http://www.primetimecrime.com/columns/Columns%202002/20021023.htm">2002 about Logan</a></span> and how the <span style="text-decoration: underline ; color:#0000ff;"><a href="http://www.primetimecrime.com/columns/Columns%202003/20030205.htm">system failed him</a></span> and his many victims time and time again. Well, nothing has changed in the intervening years. He has been in jail for short periods of time. He has been on bail conditions, probation and all manner of court imposed rules. None of which, I might add he has followed. And that, in itself, is nothing new.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Logan has been before the courts more times than Carter has little liver pills and has progressively been treated less and less seriously by the courts. This 44 year old man, and I use the expression in the loosest of terms, needs to be incarcerated for the rest of his waste of a life. If, for no other reason than to save all of his future victims, also known as protecting the public which is one of the sentencing considerations the law says the judiciary must consider in sentencing. But they rarely do.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">The legal industry created by Pierre Trudeau with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that is anything but, is to blame. It is why organized crime has taken to Canada like fleas to a bloodhound. It is why we are in the same class as Columbia or Afghanistan as drug producing nations. And it is why we need to actually get tough on crime not just whimsically piss and moan about what a problem it is.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">And, at the end of the day, it is why we need to tell the political left that we have had enough. And while we are at it, we probably need to tell the current government to reclaim their rightful place on the right side of the political spectrum instead of buying into socialist nonsense for political expediency. </p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Bobby Logan is an example of why this needs to happen fast. </p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">Leo Knight</p><p style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; ">primetimecrime@gmail.com</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"> </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-13644163797428241692009-06-09T23:36:00.005-07:002009-06-10T07:24:57.425-07:00A troubling case gets worse<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Braidwood Inquiry into the Taser death of Robert Dziekanski has been ongoing for the past five months or so.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the interim period we have heard more than enough about the structural failings of our national police force.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We have also heard </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ad hominen</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">attacks against the four police officers involved who set out from home on that fateful day just determined to do their jobs.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">They have been called thugs and murderers and all manner of hysterical epithets.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have tried to keep the arguments on both sides balanced by stating discussions of the actions of the members involved in the response to Dziekanski’s violent behaviour need to be separated from the way the RCMP handled the aftermath.</span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The response by the four members involved was within the guidelines for the Use of Force set out by the RCMP and within that, the members acted appropriately.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Criminal charges of murder or criminal negligence or attempts by the media to pillory those members for their response that night are simply not warranted.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Could they have spent more time trying to reason with Dziekanski or otherwise settle the situation?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I think the response to that question is an obvious “Yes.”</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But not doing so does not make them murderers or thugs.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But, saying that is not akin to agreeing with the RCMP’s media relations strategy or its response as the public sought to find the truth.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Nor am I trying to justify the apparent discrepancies in the follow up investigation.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Nor am I backing the policy of the RCMP relative to the use of a conducted energy weapon in potentially violent situations.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I believe those are all separate arguments.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Having said all of that, I am troubled by how the RCMP has positioned itself in this.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The public has a perception that the RCMP is lying or trying to cover up something.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If that perception is allowed to grow and build, then the inherent credibility of every serving member who does his and her best on a daily basis is threatened.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Perception is, after all, reality for those who hold it.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This is not a “do over” situation.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Credibility, once lost, is nigh on impossible to regain.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If the public believes the RCMP has lied to cover up the actions of its members in one case then every case and every statement becomes suspect.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There is no question that the RCMP has some problems in this starting with the original statements to the media going through the decision by a senior Mountie not to correct inaccurate versions of events released to the media in the early days to the discrepancies in the attending members’ recollection of events.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But those need to be separated from the response to Dziekanski’s actions.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now we have the latest sequence of events in the petitioning of the BC Supreme Court to limit Judge Braidwood’s ability to find misconduct of the attending members.</span></span></span></sub><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The members involved have a right to defend themselves.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And they have a right to use whatever means the law allows.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But the optics are not good.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><sub><span style=" "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The arguments in play are viable. What are the parameters of the inquiry? </span></span><a href="http://http://www.braidwoodinquiry.ca/procedure_directive.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is the original announcement. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></sub></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">On the surface, at the least, findings, such as Braidwood is trying to suggest are in play, are beyond his parameters.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As far as the other main argument that a BC authority has no ability to direct anything against a federal police officer may hold more water. The RCMP are not subject to the BC Police Act or the authority of the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner. They are subject of the authority of the RCMP Act, a piece of federal legislation.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This is a double-edged sword at best. While it is true that the RCMP are not treated the same as the Vancouver Police Department when a complaint is laid, it is also true that they are acting as the municipal or provincial police depending on where they are assigned.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">An argument in this vein may well serve the interests of the members but one can hardly see how it serves the interests of the RCMP in the face of the credibility issues they already face in the aftermath of the death of Robert Dziekanski.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And did I mention that the contract between the RCMP and the Province of British Columbia is coming due in the next couple of years? The troubling matters in this case continue to build.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Leo Knight </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">primetimecrime@gmail.com</span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-24262914490667746132009-05-24T21:55:00.003-07:002009-06-10T07:28:22.446-07:00Companion lost<p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> cried a lot today.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I know, I know, I’m a big tough guy.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But today I had to put down my beautiful German Shepherd, Holmes, after 12 and a half years of being my unconditional friend and companion.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We are masochists us dog owners I think.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We know we will outlive our pets and we get the gut-wrenching inevitable end such as I experienced today.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Yet we will do it again and again.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Holmes was a terrific dog.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I got her when she was just six weeks old.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And walking her in those days down around Second Beach in Vancouver illustrated what a chick magnet she was.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Or I suppose any puppy really.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But damn, she was cute.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">My friend John Daly, the BCTV, now Global, reporter was responsible for her improbable name.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">She was little ball of fluff when he first met her.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The first words out of his mouth were “Yo Holmes” and thus she was named.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I spent a lot of time with her in the early days.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">She learned all the usual commands plus a few more.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">When she was told to “get busy,’ she went off the beaten path and did her business in an area where no living creature would likely tread.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I remember a day when she was ill and had diarrhea.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I had to go out for the evening and was concerned about the state of the house upon my return.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well she did have an issue, but she had the good sense to get into the bathtub and deal with her issue there.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">She was loved by anyone who came into contact with her.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This morning</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">those who loved her got together and walked with her in her favourite park.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">She went for a swim in the sea for the last time and was cheered on by those who cared.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I have been blessed to have had a great dog in my life and saying goodbye was one of the hardest things I have ever done.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I held her in my lap as she breathed her last.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I dread life without her, but I know she has had a great life and I know she enjoyed every moment she had.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Holmes, I will miss you.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Leo Knight</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">primetimecrime@gmail.com</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-60133166159978608482009-05-18T16:21:00.001-07:002009-05-18T16:21:59.974-07:00Media distorts not reports<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Media distortion runs rampant today in all manner of issues and stories.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">One need look no further than so-called Global Warming as an issue or the tasering of Robert Dziekanski as a story, to understand the power of the media and the truth distortion that occurs to fit their ideological concepts.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What concerns me most about this is that the role of the media is to inform and to shine light into the dark corners where those in power try to hide things.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Think Watergate and the yeoman’s job done by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And those were certainly the lessons I learned as a green-as-grass puppy on the police desk in the newsroom of the now defunct </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Montreal Star</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> studying in wide-eyed wonderment the methods of City Editor John Yorston or grizzled vet of the police desk Bob Taylor, or the oh-so-well connected Paul Dubois.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">They didn’t make news or ‘spin’ news.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">They reported it.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">They were fair and balanced but they always worked to get the story and hold those responsible accountable for what they did.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">They never created a story.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But they worked tirelessly to get the story. And they questioned everything.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not so today I’m afraid.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Newsrooms today are filled with reporters whose only source is a fax machine and don’t question the pablum being served up by the spin-meisters.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Look no further than the slack the mainstream media give the Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The next time they are on the right side of an issue will be the first time yet they are given all sorts of credibility by the media as though every announcement about the horrible police is treated as though issued by Moses on the Mount.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Yet I know of incidents when a police officer was talking to a victim of a robbery trying to help when a Pivot activist thrust himself between the officer and the victim, pushing a “rights” card at him saying “you don’t have to talk to the cop.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Don’t say anything.”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Pivot are nothing more than another mouthpiece of the poverty industry in Vancouver, the almighty and self-serving ,‘way over there left,’ and deserve no more attention than that.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But I digress.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Braidwood Inquiry is costing taxpayers millions.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And for what?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Really, for what, to prove that the media relations strategy and procedures of the RCMP is fundamentally broken?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Duh!</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Who didn’t know that?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Force has always been a one-way stream for information, even for members within, information goes in and precious little ever comes back the other way.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Why should it surprise anyone that the RCMP tried to keep information under wraps in the Dziekanski case a secret even after they learned that their spokesman had given inaccurate information on the night it occurred?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Misinformation and bottlenecks on information flow has been a part of the RCMP culture since the March West.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But really, what has that or any of the millions of dollars spent thus far got to do with the death of Dziekanski?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Dziekanski was a drifter with little purpose or skills in life.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He was a three pack a day smoker and an alcoholic.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He had been somewhere in the area of 18 hours without a smoke or a drink when he landed in Vancouver and spent the next 10 or 12 hours wandering around YVR in confusion until he lost it.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The pathologist in the case testified the Taser did not kill Dziekanski.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Even when he conceded he had not been told that the Taser had been fired five times on Dziekanski did he change his opinion on the cause of death.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So, why are we spending these millions of taxpayer dollars on the Braidwood enquiry and watching various mainstream media setting their hair on fire?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">To learn that the media relations strategy of the RCMP is fundamentally flawed or that the Force is fiercely protective of information and won’t share with the public information that the public has a right to know? </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It is.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Always has been.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not likely to change.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Can we move on?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Leo Knight</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-81109692718760501492009-05-18T16:17:00.000-07:002009-05-18T20:26:31.927-07:00Media distorts not reports <p class="MsoNormal">Media distortion runs rampant today in all manner of issues and stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One need look no further than so-called Global Warming as an issue or the tasering of Robert Dziekanski as a story, to understand the power of the media and the truth distortion that occurs to fit their ideological concepts.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">What concerns me most about this is that the role of the media is to inform and to shine light into the dark corners where those in power try to hide things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Think Watergate and the yeoman's job done by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And those were certainly the lessons I learned as a green-as-grass puppy on the police desk in the newsroom of the now defunct <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Montreal Star</i> studying in wide-eyed wonderment the methods of City Editor John Yorston or grizzled vet of the police desk Bob Taylor, or the oh-so-well connected Paul Dubois.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">They didn't make news or 'spin' news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They reported it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They were fair and balanced but they always worked to get the story and hold those responsible accountable for what they did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They never created a story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But they worked tirelessly to get the story. And they questioned everything.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Not so today I'm afraid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Newsrooms today are filled with reporters whose only source is a fax machine and don't question the pablum being served up by the spin-meisters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Look no further than the slack the mainstream media give the Pivot Legal Society in Vancouver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The next time they are on the right side of an issue will be the first time yet they are given all sorts of credibility by the media as though every announcement about the horrible police is treated as though issued by Moses on the Mount.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Yet I know of incidents when a police officer was talking to a victim of a robbery trying to help when a Pivot activist thrust himself between the officer and the victim, pushing a "rights" card at him saying "you don't have to talk to the cop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Don't say anything."</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Pivot are nothing more than another mouthpiece of the poverty industry in Vancouver, the almighty and self-serving ,'way over there left,' and deserve no more attention than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But I digress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The Braidwood Inquiry is costing taxpayers millions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And for what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Really, for what, to prove that the media relations strategy and procedures of the RCMP is fundamentally broken?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Duh!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Who didn't know that?</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The Force has always been a one-way stream for information, even for members within, information goes in and precious little ever comes back the other way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Why should it surprise anyone that the RCMP tried to keep information under wraps in the Dziekanski case a secret even after they learned that their spokesman had given inaccurate information on the night it occurred?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Misinformation and bottlenecks on information flow has been a part of the RCMP culture since the March West.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But really, what has that or any of the millions of dollars spent thus far got to do with the death of Dziekanski?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Dziekanski was a drifter with little purpose or skills in life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He was a three pack a day smoker and an alcoholic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He had been somewhere in the area of 18 hours without a smoke or a drink when he landed in Vancouver and spent the next 10 or 12 hours wandering around YVR in confusion until he lost it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The pathologist in the case testified the Taser did not kill Dziekanski.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Even when he conceded he had not been told that the Taser had been fired five times on Dziekanski did he change his opinion on the cause of death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So, why are we spending these millions of taxpayer dollars on the Braidwood enquiry and watching various mainstream media setting their hair on fire?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>To learn that the media relations strategy of the RCMP is fundamentally flawed or that the Force is fiercely protective of information and won't share with the public information that the public has a right to know? </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">It is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Always has been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Not likely to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Can we move on?</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Leo Knight</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p> <br> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-43648270568905991722009-03-29T22:25:00.001-07:002009-03-29T22:25:25.433-07:00Reality at odds with picture painted by media in police shooting<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">In the middle of the media feeding frenzy pillorying the RCMP members involved responding to the disturbance caused by Polish traveler Robert Dziekanski who died after being Tasered, Vancouver Police officers shot and killed Michael </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Courier">Vann Hubbard in a busy area of downtown Vancouver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Courier">The initial reports were that he was a homeless man being checked as a possible suspect in a theft from a vehicle and in the process pulled a knife and was shot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The two officers involved were both female and the usual nonsense was inevitable from the media, the hand-wringers and the cop haters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Some of whom, I might add, are indistinguishable from the others.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Courier">But what was really amusing was the comments from some of the same folks blue with rage in their criticism of the RCMP for using a Taser on Dziekanski asking why the VPD officers involved in the shooting weren't armed with Tasers so they didn't have to shoot Vann Hubbard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Courier">The mind boggles at the sheer hypocrisy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">But even though the shooting is under investigation the cop critics were in full voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And they were happy to pile on the heels of the Braidwood inquiry into the death of Dziekanski.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Police were being referred to as thugs and murderers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">On Friday members of the Vann Hubbard family filed a lawsuit claiming wrongful death on behalf of the VPD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Well, whatever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They have described their father as gentle and law abiding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Perhaps he was when they knew him, but when he was in Vancouver, he was homeless and violent as evidenced by his own behaviour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">He was being checked by two police officers while he was carrying a black backpack similar in description to one just stolen from a vehicle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>According to a memo circulated by the Chief Constable of the VPD, Jim Chu, they engaged him in conversation for at least a minute that was "uneventful."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Suddenly, Vann Hubbard pulled a utility knife, a boxcutter if you will, that was razor sharp and fully extended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He approached the police officers with it and they pulled their service weapons and retreated trying to keep a safe distance while containing the armed man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>All the while they endeavoured to keep busy downtown pedestrian traffic out of harm's way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">When at length, this "gentle man" charged at one of the officers after one minute and forty seconds of the standoff, he was shot. Once, to the centre of mass, just like the officer was trained to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Vann Hubbard died as a result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Those who were trying to nail the police to the wall, and I include the complicit media in this statement, tried to obfuscate the sequence of events to paint the police as killers and all manner of evil things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The reality is that they were doing their jobs in investigating a just occurred theft from auto and wound up being themselves placed in harm's way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Those two members, and females both I might add, accepted their responsibility in spite of the danger, and while trying to focus on the danger they faced also did everything they could to keep the public out of harm's way as the drama unfolded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Never mind the nonsense from the family, from the so-called witness who said the police deleted a video from his phone while saying the police fired several shots, never mind all the nonsense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There are three independent videos of the shooting all of which corroborate the police version of events in the shooting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Those two police officers did their jobs on that day and for that they deserve to be supported not chastised by the chattering class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">And for the family, I am sorry for your loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But really, why was your loved one homeless in Vancouver?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Why did he pull a utility knife one minute after being engaged by the police?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And finally, in the face of warnings to drop the knife, why did he charge at one officer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Waste your time, money and energy in a lawsuit if you want, but the two members of the VPD did their job on that fateful day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And they carry a distinct sadness as a result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Chief Constable Jim Chu did a service to the police officers of VPD with his memo. Hopefully the public airing of that memo will shut up those drowning in their ignorance when they are so quick to criticize those who protect the rest of us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman"">Leo Knight<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-66790517146041766402009-03-21T09:42:00.001-07:002009-03-21T09:42:43.898-07:00Truth no defence for targetted police force <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Many years ago when I joined the RCMP, it was a proud organization, albeit one rife with tradition and more than a little out of step with the times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In those days, I referred to the Mounties as "100 years of tradition unhampered by progress."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>To a degree that remains the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And, at the same time, the RCMP has struggled to reinvent itself to be more relevant in a changing world.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">In my early days in the RCMP training academy in Regina I began to learn about that tradition and proud history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I became part of a family that I will never quite be separated from no matter how much water passes under the bridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Indeed, I had dinner last summer with Terry David Mulligan, the ageless DJ who has made a career for himself in rock 'n roll presenting and promotion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Mulligan, as a young man was also a Mountie and during dinner we didn't so much talk of music, past, current and future, but of our like experiences in the Mounted Police.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And it is that bond, born of running all over Hell's half-acre until you earned your marching orders and swimming with bricks and drill hall abuse that allows two people with disparate backgrounds to share a laugh and story about a challenge accepted and passed that will never go away.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But part of that is the angst felt watching the media devour the RCMP over the Taser incident at Vancouver International Airport that resulted in the death of Polish traveler Robert Dziekanski and feeling that it is all grossly unfair.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Media spin and obfuscation of the facts are old hat and to be expected when looking at any story where the "heavy-handed" police are involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Or, rather as a friend refers to the police as the "jack-booted enforcers."</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The media coverage of the Braidwood Inquiry into the actions of the RCMP on that fateful night is little more of that confirmation of their bias and attempt to pillory what was once a great Canadian institution.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Dziekanski was a ne'er do well at best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He was a drunk and a chain smoker who had done without both for more than 20 hours on his travels from Poland to YVR.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>After that many hours in the air without a drink or a smoke, I can imagine he was a little on edge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But while on the ground at YVR, he didn't seem to possess the mental acumen to get himself some help in the form of directions for hours on end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Equally the Customs and Immigration folks and the YVR security folks seemed to have ignored him in a high security area for those same hours, yet it is the RCMP that are the bad guys in this movie.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">So, when he started tossing around desks and computers it is only natural that the police were called.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And in strolled four members of our once-proud national police force just trying to do their job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Their reward has been to be metaphorically hung, drawn and quartered by a media convinced they are covering up murder.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Those four members of the RCMP were just trying to do their job in the manner they were trained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Nothing more and nothing less. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Yet it is the little details that have lawyers turning summersaults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Quibble about the details all you want, but the bottom line is that four police officers were dispatched to a call of a violent, possibly drunk male who was on a rampage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They attended, approached the suspect carefully and in the face of apparent dismissal and potential violence they responded in the manner they were trained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And the reality is that every nickel – or perhaps I should say every millions of dollars of taxpayer money – spent on the Braidwood inquiry is an absolute waste of money.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">There's no mystery here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If you don't like the way the Mounties handled their response, lobby to change the policy, don't shoot the messenger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Well, actually, that is already too late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The professional bureaucrat named by the Prime Minister to take control of the once proud Force, William Elliot, has already altered Force policy on the use of Tasers without knowing thing one about reality on the mean streets.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But piling on the RCMP has almost become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">de rigeur</i> for the mainstream media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Today, for example, I did an interview with a CBC reporter about a situation involving a municipal police force and she kept referring to the RCMP so conditioned is she.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But that is what it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The RCMP is a big, scarlet clad target and that is fair enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But, I would much prefer a debate surrounded with facts not ideologically driven bovine scatology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But, unfortunately, that is all the mainstream media seems to be capable of producing when the RCMP is under the microscope in this country.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The Mounties have many foibles and in my opinion need to be reconstituted as our National Police Force not municipal cops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But that is my opinion and perhaps the subject of another discussion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But they also do not deserve to be pilloried for trying to do their job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And Robert Dziekanski was waste of a man even if the police haters are trying to elevate him to sainthood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He had not amounted to anything in his life and he wasn't smart enough to recognize that responding police officers were trying to intervene with his dilemma.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;tab-stops:106.35pt">Too bad, so sad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But his death was not the fault of those four police officers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Leo Knight</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"> <br></p> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-55924686628810804282009-03-09T21:00:00.001-07:002009-03-09T21:05:16.095-07:00Parents' comments minimize Mayerthorpe reality<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Three years ago I was sitting in a lounge in the Calgary airport when my Blackberry first started buzzing with information about a multiple shooting of RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe, Alberta.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">The original information was sketchy but all too soon the horrors perpetrated by James Roszko were all too clear. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Four young police officers, good Canadian boys, were dead.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Ambushed and cut down in the prime of their young lives by a man not fit to shine their boots.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Roszko, in true cowardly fashion, took his own life when another member attending from Edmonton returned Roszko's fire and wounded him.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Roszko crawled back into that Quonset hut which housed his marijuana grow op and chop shop and took his pathetic life.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">The nation was shocked at the news and watched with heavy hearts as the Mounties gathered in record numbers in Edmonton to pay tribute to their fallen comrades. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">But once the tears were shed and four young men laid to rest, investigators had to piece together what happened.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">How was Roszko able to get back onto his property and ambush the police officers?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Their investigation led to the arrest of two other young men who ultimately were the answer to that question.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">They not only provided Roszko with a weapon, but they drove him to his property knowing full well he was going to do what he did.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">And they did nothing to stop him.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Dennis Cheeseman and Shawn Hennessey</span></span><span style="color:#464646;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span></span><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">were charged with being parties to the offence of first degree murder times four which, by law, is the applicable charge when the victim is a police officer.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Then began the predictable nonsense from friends and family of the two men. They were good boys don't you know? </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">They were pillars of the community and all that crap that seems ubiquitous in the mainstream media whenever someone does something horrid.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Reporters dutifully trot out and talk to family, friends and neighbours </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">who then utter banalities about what a nice man he was and I would have never imagined he could do something so awful . . .blah, blah, blah.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">It's all so predictable..</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">The two accused last month pled guilty to reduced charges of manslaughter and were sentenced to 13 and 15 years respectively.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Which frankly, given the callous and deliberate manner that they enabled Roszko to do what he did, was not enough.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">As far as I am concerned they should die in prison if there was justice in this country.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Last week, on the anniversary of the killings, I read a news story where the families of these young men are planning to appeal their convictions even though they pled guilty.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">They are still maintaining their precious little children are really angels and did what they did because they were afraid of Roszko and … boo-hoo-hoo.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Well, in the first instance I don't buy the "afraid" nonsense.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Had they alerted the police, Roszko would have not ambushed the murdered officers and the chance of him being able to exact any revenge on them would have been remote, at best.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Secondly, one of the pair was partnered with Roszko in his illicit activities in the Quonset.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">He had much more to gain from Roszko's successful ambush of the Mounties than not.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">And that one fact alone should not be overlooked when we listen the families' whine about their good boys.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Perhaps, had the whining parents done a better job of educating their whelps in the concept of consequences for bad actions, then four young RCMP members might still be alive today.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">And their prattle about appeals in this matter show they still haven't grasped the concept.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Leo Knight</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">primetimecrime@gmail.com</span></span></span></a><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-10514502947215406932009-03-05T20:36:00.002-08:002009-03-05T21:04:37.246-08:00Court ruling defies democracy<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In August of 1982, Ronald Smith, a drifter from Alberta, murdered two men in cold blood for the thrill of it.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That event took place, in Glacier National Park in Montana, not in Canada.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Smith, in a plea arrangement asked for the death penalty, which I might add, was deservedly granted.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He also reiterated that request in March of 1983.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the intervening years Smith has been on death row in a State that is relatively slow to carry out capital case executions.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For years the Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin had their diplomats play the game with Montana authorities seeking, at least on the surface, some form of clemency for Smith, from the hangman's noose.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Metaphorically speaking of course.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I am not sure how Montana gets rid of its Death Row inmates. </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Although what is ironic in all of this is that the State of Montana seems poised to get rid of the death penalty.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Their House of Representatives is to hold a vote later this spring on the matter.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Smith also seems to have had a change of heart in that he has availed himself of every legal avenue to try and delay or commute his richly deserved death sentence.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">With the election of a Conservative government, a different view was taken on the Canadian tradition of diplomatic intervention in death penalty cases.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Tories said, and rightly so in my view, that they would not intervene with democratic countries with the death penalty in cases of multiple murders.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Had they removed the word 'multiple' I would have wholeheartedly agreed with the position.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Smith's lawyers, funded not by Smith, made application to the Federal Court of Canada to get that decision overturned.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And so, it was overturned by Federal Court Judge </span></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">R. L. Barnes, who has </span><a href="http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/rss/2009_FC_228.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">made an order that the Government of Canada</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> reconstitute its diplomatic efforts to gain clemency for Smith.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now I don't know Judge Barnes from Adam other than what it says in his </span><a href="http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/portal/page/portal/fc_cf_en/Barnes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">official bio</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But I note he was appointed during the waning days of the Liberal administration of Paul Martin.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But I am stunned that any court in this land has the power to overturn policy decisions made by the elected representatives of the people of Canada.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I am not referring to a piece of legislation deemed unconstitutional by the ermine clad wonders of the Supreme Court of Canada.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That is quite another discussion.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Federal Court of Canada is a Trudeaupian concept that, as far as I can tell, serves no useful function.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It is the court directly responsible for the absolute joke that has rendered our refugee system dysfunctional and created an industry for a generation of lawyers that didn't exist 20 years ago. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And let's bear in mind that the State of Montana is not Saudi Arabia or Iran holding public stonings.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Smith has had the benefit of every possible avenue of appeal spanning 25 years through the American justice system.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There is no question he is guilty of two thrill kills.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">By his own admission, he killed two people because he wanted to see what it was like.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Oh, really?</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The irrepressible "useful idiot" Jack Layton waded in on this case saying: </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"You can't be against the death penalty in Canada but be in favour of it for a Canadian citizen outside of Canada."</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Has anyone ever heard the Harper government say they were "against" the death penalty?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I certainly haven't and considering the last vote on the matter in the House of Commons was in the mid 70s, I sincerely doubt than any sitting MP has actually registered their position by vote on the subject.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In point of fact, poll after poll has shown that a majority of Canadians support the death penalty in certain cases.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I would rank in that number and I suspect, so too would the Prime Minister.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The bottom line is that Smith committed a disgusting, incredibly offensive crime, which he has admitted to doing.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And he did it in a jurisdiction with the death penalty.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well, in my view he is the author of his own misfortune, come what may.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He needs to be accountable for his actions and in Montana, as it stands, that means he should pay forfeit with his life.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I don't have a problem with that and neither does our federal government.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Federal Court of Canada should not be involved.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And therein lies the problem.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That any body of unelected judges can dictate policy to our elected representatives is offensive in our democracy and their power needs to be curtailed. </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Frankly, I cannot see any reason for their existence in the first instance.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Leo Knight</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">primetimecrime@gmail.com</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-40437490797205329612009-02-16T20:05:00.002-08:002009-02-17T21:53:11.040-08:00Clouding the issue of gang crime<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">I have always taken a more Libertarian view of politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For the record, I believe in less government coupled with the strong enforcement of the laws of right and wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">As an example, Vancouver is wrestling with a spike in gun violence and an apparent gang war with the daily shootings in the most public of places like shopping mall parking lots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As the politicians wring their hands trying to figure out what to do about it, they come up with empty public announcements about the addition of 168 more police officers and hiring up to ten prosecutors to work directly with police in the investigation of organized crime groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Well, super.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Considering it takes a minimum of one year to hire and train a police officer who is then deployable, that man or woman, on day one, has exactly zero experience as a police officer, it remains to be seen exactly how the announcement by BC Premier Gordon Campbell with have one iota of effect on the reality of the bullets flying today in the Greater Vancouver area. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Equally, while I would never argue against the idea of having dedicated prosecutors working with law enforcement in organized crime investigations, the addition of ten will take more than a little time to find, hire, train and then be functionally able to advise the police involved in complex investigations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And, for the record, while this 'problem' has only recently captured the public interest, regular readers will note that in the waning days of 1999, I wrote a <a href="http://www.primetimecrime.com/columns/Columns%201999/19991229.htm">column</a> saying that organized crime was the biggest threat to this country in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Yes, that was in the idyllic days pre-9/11, but the threat remains no less so even with the so-called War on Terror.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Yet, for some reason, the rising body count in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton seems to have suddenly become a major issue with the mainstream media and the politicians seeking ways to shut them up lest the voting public notice the bullet casings alongside the rising body count.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Well, I am glad they finally noticed, but really, isn't it a little late in the game?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Ah well, better late than never I suppose.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But then, Campbell and his Attorney General Wally Oppal have spent the last week crowing about the need to lobby the federal government to tighten gun control laws.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Huh?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Gun control laws in this country are already ridiculously strict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>While I, as a law abiding citizen may technically own a gun as long as I have had a course, acquired an FAC and done everything in my power to ensure that the bullets and the gun never contact each other, the reality is that it is extremely difficult and arduous to actually acquire one. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But if a criminal involved in organized crime wants a gun, it is as easy to get one as making a phone call or two and having a few hundred spare dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>No firearms course required. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">If that same criminal commits an offence with a firearm, such as sticking up the local corner grocery corner store, shooting at a rival or threatening someone in a nightclub, the law says that he or she should get a minimum of four years tacked onto whatever sentence the court hands down for the original offence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Does this happen? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Uh, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The 'use of a firearm in the commission of an offence' charge recommended by police is bargained away so often and so fast that it is simply assumed by the defense that the offender will not have to deal with it.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">So, what is more effective, Wally Oppal espousing the virtues of more police, more prosecutors and lobbying the federal government for stricter gun laws, or simply telling the prosecutors who work for him not to plea bargain away the mandatory minimum on gun crime?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">There is absolutely no need for further government control on firearms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There is a need for enforcement of the rules as they apply and the support of the Crown and the courts in the application of those laws. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Leo Knight</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-12452719484975223522009-01-19T18:00:00.000-08:002009-01-19T18:01:14.696-08:00The making of a saint<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">I wonder when the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vancouver Sun</i> will finish its canonization of Ivan Henry, the rapist jailed in the early 80's after a series of terrifying rapes in Vancouver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Since Lenny Doust, the elder statesman of BC barristers, reviewed the case and said there were some procedural issues at trial which should be reviewed on appeal, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vancouver Sun</i> in particular and the mainstream media with the sole exception of Global BC, has endeavored to elevate this guy into another victim saint along with Donald Marshall, Stephen Truscott and, dare I say, Maher Arar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Now we need to understand a few things about this case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vancouver Sun</i> has tried to paint a case against the Vancouver Police as is their wont, by portraying the image of Henry in a police line-up, being obviously there against his will, as though this was the evidence used to convict him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">It wasn't and not by a long shot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">In fact, the VPD detectives handling the serial rape case knew that Henry had queered the lineup process by his resistance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And let's not lose sight of that little detail: it was the actions of Henry himself who made the lineup inadmissible with his physical resistance forcing the VPD to drag him into the lineup room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">So, they then put together a photo lineup and got their prosecutable identifications in that manner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Additionally, in court all the victims that testified and at least two that were not called to testify pointedly, directly and without ambiguity, identified Henry as their attacker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Henry knew the system inside and out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He has more convictions and run-ins with the police than Carter has little liver pills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He deliberately declined counsel and chose to defend himself against all advice from the Crown and the Bench. Yet, he went forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">That he was convicted should surprise no one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That his appeals went nowhere also should surprise no one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That one lawyer, albeit a senior and talented one, should examine the file and determine there were some procedural issues which may (highlight the word 'may') taint the conviction is a far cry from screaming injustice and innocent man jailed as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vancouver Sun</i> has suggested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Ivan Henry is a scumbag who was declared a Dangerous Offender by the courts and, as a result, has spent over 25 years in prison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That is as it should be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That he is being given the attention he has by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Vancouver Sun</i> and painted as a victim is wrong at so many levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He was not declared a DO because of this conviction, rather it was because of a lifetime of crime which culminated with a conviction as a serial rapist.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">As an example, Henry writes in his excuse-filled "Woe is me" statement, that he was forced into the lineup even though he wasn't charged with anything and the lemmings at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Sun</i> breathlessly report his words as though something horrible was done by the VPD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The police do physical lineups as part of the investigative process in the hope that they may develop further evidence establishing they have the right suspect before a charge is laid. Any suggestion that the police did something wrong and Henry was hard done by because the VPD forced him into a lineup before he was charged is nothing more than a red herring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Henry orchestrated that deliberately to nullify the effect of a lineup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The only reason to do that was to try and create a possible avenue for appeal because he was - and remains - absolutely guilty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And we know that because a jury said so, a number of victims said so in a courtroom as well, at least two rape victims said so who were not called to testify.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And not only that, but his wife, who he uses as an alibi in his statement trumpeted by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Sun</i>, later gave police a statement of her own saying that everything he said was a lie.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">In a conversation with one of the investigators, he said, "If this guy gets out and there is any justice, he'd move next door to [the columnist in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Sun.</i>]<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></i>And I would happily pay his first month's rent."</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Spin in the media is effective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It can result in an innocent man being pilloried for no good reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It can also result in a guilty man going free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Doust's report is what it is and the system will have another look at the case. But, there is a wide chasm between procedural issues and innocence.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Vancouver Sun</i> should be more careful in who they are proposing for sainthood.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Leo Knight</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p> <!--EndFragment--> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-23828373604409528072009-01-03T16:03:00.004-08:002009-01-04T07:07:29.995-08:00Holidaaaaaaaze . . . .<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Well, the weather outside was indeed frightful, no matter in which part of the Deranged Dominion you reside.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I had the distinct pleasure of spending an unscheduled three days in Edmonton in a particularly sub-arctic chill after our plane wasn't allowed to land at a snow-bound Vancouver airport, uncharacteristically up to its knees in the white stuff.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And, I must admit, I certainly did not understand the efforts of the Vancouver media to pillory Air Canada because of the weather.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The talk shows and the newspapers were filled to excess with examples of how people couldn't get home or wherever, and somehow it was Air Canada's fault and Westjet, which handles a fraction of traffic that Air Canada does, was somehow beyond reproach.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the space of four days, major airports Pearson, Halifax Stanfield, YVR then Pearson again then YVR again, got blasted with snowstorms so severe that Environment Canada called the phenomena "Storm-a-geddon." </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And somehow that was Air Canada's fault?</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Flights were delayed all over North America over the Christmas period.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But the media seemed to focus on Air Canada.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">One has to wonder at the critical thinking abilities of the mainstream media.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Are they so focused on whatever their political agenda is that they are unable to ask critical questions?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Unfortunately, the answer is yes.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Despite the several days warning preceding the extreme weather, officials at YVR didn't see the necessity to bring in extra de-icing fluid.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">No, really, I'm not kidding.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Flights were delayed at YVR because the airport ran out of de-icing fluid and airlines had to wait for de-icing fluid to be trucked in from Calgary.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But the mainstream media and the talk show hosts seemed incapable of discovering that salient fact.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'm no apologist for Air Canada, God knows they have their challenges, but the criticism they got for the weather delays across the country and most especially in Vancouver was grossly unfair bordering on libel.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And I guess that the media unfairness is what lies at the heart of this rant.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">When I was first hired at the </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Montreal Star </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">in the early '70s</span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I was taught by then City Editor, John Yorston, the concepts of objectivity in reporting and above all, checking sources and questioning everything.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I see little of that anymore in the mainstream media.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></p><p style="text-align:justify;background:white"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Take, for example, a </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Toronto Star</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> piece published to ring in the New Year.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Toronto police Chief Bill Blair was quoted in a story talking about how the murder rate has dropped in that city: "</span></span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We live in one of the safest metropolitan cities in the world.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So, it's bland, it's boring here. Boring is good."</span></span></span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This, from the police chief of the city that had a gang shootout on Boxing Day a couple of years back that took the life of a beautiful, 15 year old girl out shopping with friends.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Jane/Finch area of the city is a virtual "No Go" area for everyone including the police.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Crack cocaine and methamphetamine is the currency and guns and bullets are the calling cards.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The city was so "boring" that only a few hours after midnight on New Year's Eve, shots rang out in several parts of the "boring" city.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">By dawn there were three gunshot victims in area hospitals from separate incidents.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And those are only the ones that I know about.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Blair is obviously trying to spin some good news into a public relations win for a police department beleaguered by scandal in recent years.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I get that and I get that he would want to do that.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But please, neither he nor the </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Toronto Star</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> should insult the intelligence of the public.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Drugs, guns and shootings are a part of all our major cities in Canada in this day and age and any attempt to minimize that is irresponsible on the part of our police leaders or politicians.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The swallowing of the irresponsible spin by the mainstream media is an abdication of their responsibility in what I used to believe was a proud calling.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Leo Knight</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">primetimecrime@gmail.com</span></span></a></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-21679567593406590922008-12-18T16:15:00.002-08:002009-01-03T16:06:35.725-08:00Justice?<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">While sitting in the lounge at Toronto's Pearson airport this week I was killing some time reading the only newspaper in this country worth spending some time with: The National Post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And there on page A11 with the slug "Justice" was this story: "Judge banishes teenage car thief from Winnipeg in unique sentence."</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Some little piece of human excrement, described as a serial car thief, who cannot be named here because of the $%$$!! stupid YCJA, will be sent away from Winnipeg to spend a term of probation in Yorkton, Sask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The time is to be spent with "family" according to the court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I'll just bet the good burghers of that town are overjoyed at that prospect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sales of steering wheel locks ought to go up overnight at the local Canadian Tire store.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Everyone associated with the decision is unsure if there will be any effect on the young darling who cannot seem to get through a day without stealing a car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But he isn't likely a disappointment to his family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His family has a collective 180 convictions for auto theft among them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That's convictions, not charges or even police interventions in theft auto files.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Convictions.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Now, I don't know about you, but I suspect this is all going to be a waste of time, money and people's efforts who have to try and manage this file in the probation office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I also suspect, and I will give odds, that this waste of good oxygen is going to be arrested in the first 30 days behind the wheel of a stolen car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will even allow you to hedge your bet by my stating that the arrest will result from a high-speed chase with police.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And that's really the problem here – this little piece of crap, masquerading as a human being, is not being made responsible for his actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That's offensive to the rest of society and not just the people of Yorkton, Saskatchewan who are about to experience a crime wave courtesy of the Manitoba courts.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The courts simply cannot or will not get their heads around one of the basic principles of sentencing stipulated in the Criminal Code of Canada which is that protection of the public must be a consideration when pronouncing sentence upon a convicted person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">So, let me ask the question:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>How are the citizens of Yorkton, Saskatchewan being protected by the courts in a sentence where a prolific car thief is given probation and sent to a town in which he does not live, to stay with a family who seem to think auto theft is the family trade? </p><p class="MsoNormal">It's all a mystery to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Our justice system, were it actually that, should put this little piece of crap in prison for a very long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Because, in doing that, they would actually protect the good people of Yorkton, Saskatchewan.</p><p class="MsoNormal">And while they were at it, they could send the other members of his family along with him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Or, as some would say, just shoot the lot and put them out of society's misery.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Leo Knight</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-57055359738463474732008-12-14T22:32:00.008-08:002008-12-14T22:49:58.164-08:00The eyes have it<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Yesterday's announcement by the BC Crown Counsel's office that there would be no criminal charges laid in the tasering of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanskie should come as no surprise to anyone with the ability to think and analyze what they were able to see with their own eyes in a little over a minute of very available video, broadcast widely on news stations in Canada and on the internet.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=";"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />I said at the time that the RCMP members who responded to a violent and apparently emotionally and mentally unstable man at Vancouver International Airport did exactly as they were trained to do and now the Crown Counsel has backed up those members.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=";"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />That Dziekanskie died is sad indeed to those that knew and cared for him.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Albeit, the information that has come to light in the intervening time seems to indicate that there were precious few of those.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=";"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />No indeed, the bloodlust whipped up by the media seems to have been all about their own particular ideology which in general is to play "gotcha" journalism and, in specific, is to attack the actions of the police.</span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=";"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />But despite the attempts of the assembled media hounds baying for the blood of the RCMP members in this case, the Crown has made the correct decision and the police officers involved have been vindicated in the actions they took on that fateful night.</span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />But, let's be very clear, every media outlet in this country all but called this an execution of an innocent man at the hands of the police.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />And they were wrong, at every level.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />The Mounties responded well after Customs and Immigration (now CBSA) dropped the ball, as did airport security, letting an agitated man stew for a dozen hours in a secure area not knowing where to go, what to do, or indeed, how to help himself.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />He was plainly visible on their security cameras.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">They had to see him, time and time again for 12 hours.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And yet they did nothing until the behaviour of the nicotine and alcohol-deprived addict became so egregious the police were called.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />And, as yet, no one from those organizations has said word one about why they failed in their jobs, preferring to let four young members of the RCMP dangle on the end of a rope not of their creation. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And for some strange reason, they have been given a big wide pass by what passes for mainstream journalism in these strange times as the fourth estate aggressively attacks those whose job is to protect us.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />The police officers who attended knew they were dealing with an irrational man in an agitated state.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">They approached him carefully using hand signals to try and calm him.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When the man escalated his behaviour they engaged him physically and used a Taser - exactly as they were trained to do.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />Complain all you want about the training, the Canadian Border Services Agency, airport security or the media frenzy, but the four members of the RCMP who attended and dealt with Dziekanskie did absolutely nothing wrong and all of the media attempts to appoint them as the bad guys in this movie are shameful.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style=";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />The videotape tells the truth. The media would have you not believe your eyes and instead believe their whipped up frenzy and bloodlust for the police.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;mso-pagination:none;tab-stops:28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 252.0pt 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style=";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?" seemed to be the line of thinking.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style=";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />The RCMP may be a lot of things and have a lot to answer to the Canadian public as depicted in Paul Palango's masterful work: </span></span><a href="http://www.primetimecrime.com/products%20Non%20Fiction/Entertainment%20nf%2020.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Dispersing the Fog</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, but those four members, all since scattered hither and yon by the Force, did their job on that night.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style=";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />And, as near as I can see, the mainstream media didn't do theirs that night or on any day or night since on this file.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><!--[if supportFields]><span style="'mso-element:field-begin'"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>CONTACT _Con-3BEBE39A196 <span style="'mso-element:field-separator'"></span><![endif]--><span style="mso-no-proof:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Leo Knight</span></span></span><!--[if supportFields]><span style="'mso-element:field-end'"></span><![endif]--></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">primetimecrime@gmail.com</span></span></a></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-52729331923797387482008-12-10T21:48:00.002-08:002008-12-10T21:54:53.003-08:00The last Rae Day<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">As much as he tried to be conciliatory and magnanimous, the angst on the face of Bob Rae as he reluctantly let go of his passionate, all-consuming ambition to be the Prime Minister of Canada was all too evident. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And, so too must have been the angst in the boardroom of Power Corp, where Rae's brother, John, is part of the ruling class, oops, sorry, senior management.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But wait, Michael Ignatieff is still part of the ruling elite "entitled to their entitlements" class of the Liberal Party of Canada isn't he?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Well, that's a little hard to say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He's been absent from Canada for much of his adult life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On the surface he seems more centrist than the former NDP Premier of Ontario could ever claim to be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And whatever ties to Power Corp. he may have, it seems to be only a friendship to the Raes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Well, so far.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">What is clear is that, with the notable exception of Stephen Harper, every Prime Minister in office longer than the time to have a cup of coffee in the past three decades, owes his allegiance to Power Corp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then, add the likes of Maurice Strong (he of the UN Oil for Food scandal) and Paul Volker (former chair of he US Fed and current Barack Obama advisor) to the mix and their influence – dare I say dominance - over North American government is complete for the last 40 years.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And there's the rub isn't it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There is no ability to control Stephen Harper is there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Oh sure, Brian Mulroney, another Power Corp. alumni, was an adviser in the early days, but that too failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So how to continue the run?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Obviously Harper has to go. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">But how?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He was just elected a few weeks earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Albeit to a minority government as the Libs were reduced to their lowest vote tally in living memory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In the last minority Parliament, Lib leader Stephane Dion supported the Harper government against all of his pet causes in a twisting, hypocritical, mind-numbingly theatrical performance to avoid an election, all the while saying he was against what Harper was doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It's a wonder his dog, Kyoto, didn't bite him.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">No problem apparently though after the next election forced by Harper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Libs did exactly what they said they would never do and crawled into bed with the NDP and the separatist Bloc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Well, as threesomes go, I doubt there has been another dripping with more sleaze and hypocrisy than that one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Or as Mulroney once mused, "There's no whore like an old whore."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And I suppose he is an authority on that subject.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">What puzzles me is the concept that Rae, and by extension his supporters, or more accurately, string pullers, tried to peddle that the Governor General had an obvious choice to make if they, the combined opposition, simply said they had no confidence in the sitting government and she should appoint them as the government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">It not only defies logic, and law and tradition, but speaks to the unadulterated ego and sense of entitlement possessed by the Liberal Party of Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>That Jack and Gilles jumped on the train is really of no import.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Neither will ever get close to the Prime Minister's office in any way, shape or form save and except as an invited visitor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Canadians, as apathetic as they can be in their "I'm all right Jack" existence, would never be so stupid as to let them close to the levers of power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So Layton signed on to his only shot and is still trying to milk out the dry udder of that cow while Duceppe is still sniggering at the door those idiots opened for him and the separatists.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And at the end of the last Rae-Day, the worst Premier Ontario has ever seen will not have the opportunity to become the worst Prime Minister Canada has ever seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>His brother, John Rae, who ran the campaigns of Jean Chretien and is a central, dominating part of the power brokers of Power Corp. will not have a direct pipeline into the Prime Minister's office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Or will he?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Leo Knight</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-8191577793239667852008-12-08T23:39:00.001-08:002008-12-08T23:39:45.907-08:00The world according to the CBC<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">I should know better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But I watched the CBC National news tonight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I know, I know, but there really wasn't much else on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">For the first time since, uh, I don't know when, I screamed at my television.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The CBC ran a piece of journalistic tripe about the war in Afghanistan with the marking of the 100<sup>th</sup> Canadian soldier killed in action in that troubled part of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The absolute bias was prevalent in the piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They found two families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and a peace activist who has written a book to present an anti-war point of view that had not a hint of balance or, dare I say, common sense.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Without disparaging the families of the brave men who died in the service of this country, I couldn't help but get angry at the mother of one soldier who said she was okay with her son being a peacekeeper but didn't want him shooting at someone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Honestly, she said that. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And then the intellectually-challenged man married to her criticized the mission we are on in some weird attempt to say Canada has done its bit for NATO and we should leave without addressing the job that is not yet done against the Taliban and the forces of evil who are trying to destroy our very way of life.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Now, I grieve along with every other Canadian for the death of every man and woman who is killed in the line of duty in the service of this country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But, it is disingenuous to the extreme to suggest that if we simply bail on Afghanistan life will be alright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The harsh reality for all the group huggers is that we, the West, have got to engage in a shooting war with the forces of Islam who are trying to eliminate our way of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There is no other way to look at the so-called War on Terror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And best that war be conducted in a place far away from our shores.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>********************************</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">It's been awhile since I have posted and for those who have written wondering why, suffice to say it has been an extremely busy period for me given that, in addition to my day job and other writing projects, I advise two CFL clubs on matters of security and November was the playoff season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One of the clubs I work with won the Grey Cup and it was a pure joy to bear witness, at close quarters, to their victory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">To those of you who enjoy my musings I pledge I will be more forthcoming in the next while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>To those that hate what I say, I will try to say more than ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Leo Knight</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p> <!--EndFragment--> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-64638907107773521432008-10-31T10:21:00.006-07:002008-11-12T12:03:55.957-08:00None of the above<div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I don't have a dog in this fight. And if ever there was an election that screamed out for a None of the Above selection on the ballot, it is this Presidential election in the USA. </span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A few days ago I was speaking with a waitress in the hotel lounge I was staying at in Calgary and she struck up a conversation on the book I was reading - The War Within by Bob Woodward. </span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It seems she is a young idealistic economics student at the University of Calgary. She asked me what I thought about the US election and I stated the above. She asked what I didn't like about Barack Obama and I said that in my view he hasn't said much about what he would do save and except for mouthing a bunch of empty rhetoric and the usual socialist tripe about raising the minimum wage and creating the conditions for more unionization in America.</span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">She seemed appalled and said well, what about what George Bush and the Republicans have done to the economy? I replied that the current economic meltdown had very little to do with Bush and was almost exclusively the responsibility of former President Bill Clinton. </span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well, she looked as though someone had just drowned her puppy. She then said that's not what her professors taught at university. Which, of course, caused me to pass several ounces of a perfectly potable Australian Shiraz out of my nose.</span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So patiently, I explained, after I had cleaned up the table in front of me, that universities in Canada and the US, with all but a very few exceptions are bastions of political correctness and socialist dogma and of course they wouldn't teach anything but what fits their socialist version of reality. </span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well, with a few taps on the IPhone I unearthed several articles in places like the Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily that proved my point. She then got mad, as she should have, at her profs and said they should be teaching the truth. Ah yes, got it in one my dear. But neither our institutes of higher learning nor the mainstream media can see past their dogmatic idealism. </span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In Toronto this morning, I watched the all-Obama news channel formerly known as CNN. They've already got this guy elected and were breathlessly talking about who might be his Chief of Staff and possible cabinet appointments. Well Obama may well be the President-elect come Wednesday morning or, as in the last two elections, the MSM may have gotten it wrong. But whatever happens, this election has clearly shown that both sides need to work harder to find better candidates.</span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Leo Knight</span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">primetimecrime@gmail.com</span></span></a></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*For those of you who are interested in the original piece written by Terry Jones for the Investor's Business Daily which is a subscription site, I have found a discussion board with the original article posted. You can read it here:</span> </span><a href="http://www.curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1266142"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline;color:#0000ff;" >http://www.curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1266142</span></a> </div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'"><br /></div><div style="MIN-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 11px 'Lucida Grande'"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-85716704016011854662008-10-11T10:33:00.003-07:002008-10-11T18:09:19.889-07:00The Lesser of Two Weasels<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have had about all the stomach-churning rhetoric and blatent nonsense I can handle in this election campaign. </span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The economy in the USA, Iceland, Japan and many other parts of the world is in the toilet and circling the drain. NDP leader Jack Layton and Liberal Stephane Dion can only scream "Why isn't the Prime Minister doing something?" Well, what exactly isn't made clear. </span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not panicked and knee-jerked his way into doing something for the sake of appearing to be doing something. That's what a leader does. A leader does not panic. </span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">While I abhor some of the things the Harper government has done, or not done as the case may be, one cannot say he has been reckless, which seems to be what the lefty weasels are demanding.</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now, I know for certain that Dion's Green Shift is a pack of stuff and nonsense. But clearly, if it was stuff and nonsense a month ago, with the market meltdown, it is unadulterated stupidity now. But, Dion continues to say a Liberal government will adopt this in its first budget. </span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This is beyond reckless given the market situation, this is economic suicide. Follow me here. The so-called Green Shift, the term in itself was stolen without the permission of the owner of the name, is touted to be revenue neutral because carbon taxes placed upon carbon emitters would be offset by income tax reductions. </span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Okay. But if the carbon tax is designed to incent the carbon emitters to emit less doesn't that also follow that that leads to paying less? And if they are paying less and the income tax reduction is not recinded, isn't that a recipe for deficit budgets? Well, you know it is, and I know it is. But that 's because we can actually think something through. And, of course, this simple concept doesn't deal with the inflationary result because increasing costs on business means business has to reflect that cost on their price to the end user. Simple economics.</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But, apparently not simple enough for the critical thinkers who pull the strings on the most corrupt political party this country has ever had endure. And, if you doubt the accuracy of that statement please purchase Paul Palango's new book: <a href="http://www.primetimecrime.com/products%20Non%20Fiction/Entertainment%20nf%2020.htm">"Dispersing the Fog"</a> and get back to me after you've digested it.</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But simple economics seems to elude the other weasel as well, Jack Layton. I may climb a clock tower with a rifle if I hear the phrase "working family" or "corporate welfare" again. Is Layton so devoid of ideas that he must resort to the 1974 election campaign speeches of David Lewis who coined the phrase "corporate welfare bums?" Layton's stated policy of eliminating the so-called "$50 billion" in corporate tax cuts enacted by the Stephen Harper minority government may be ideologically sound with the ideological unsound on the political left, but it doesn't make any sense in the real world. I don't care how you paint it, if government raises the cost to business of anything, then business must, by definition, pass that cost onto its customers which of course, means the buying public. And that is true whether we are talking about oil companines, or financial institutions or the Ma and Pop corner grocery store. </span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Why would any political leader with any concept of reality want to add to the financial burden of the average Canadian family at this point in time with the American economy in free-fall and our economic times so uncertain? Notice I didn't use the term "working family" and instead used "average Canadian." The NDP seems to think the only people who "work" are single moms and union members. Weasel the Lesser should try and see how hard people like you and I work to pay our taxes, our bills and try and keep a few shekels out of the hands of the government thieves for a rainy day.</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; text-align: justify; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; min-height: 13px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The concept of a Dion government or a coalition Dion/Layton government is frightening at best and downright disastrous at worst. Whatever one may think of Stephen Harper, he is, at least, a true leader and a careful steward of the country. The choice on October 14 is either Stephen Harper or the lesser of two weasels.</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Leo Knight</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">primetimecrime@gmail.com</span></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal 'Lucida Grande'; "><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-46695541580813561682008-09-28T23:04:00.002-07:002008-09-28T23:11:24.094-07:00Tilting at windmills with effect<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I have just finished reading an advance copy of Paul Palango's new book: entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Dispersing the Fog: Inside the Secret World of Ottawa and the RCMP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Palango, who is no stranger to anyone interested in the RCMP and the problems that have befallen this national icon, walks the reader through a series of cases that have dominated the news headlines. From the Mahar Arar debacle through Project Sidewinder and up to the murder of the Mayerthorpe Four, Palango looks carefully at the reasons the RCMP keeps taking it on the chin.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">But it is so much more than a look inside the travails of Canada's national police force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is really an examination behind the scenes and the politicization of the RCMP to suit the needs of the real power behind the throne in Canada and he lays bare the systemic corruption that has everything to do with power and money for a small group and little or nothing to do with what is right for the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Palango methodically strips away the layers of obfuscation and lays bare the fabric of lies that ultimately ensures the RCMP can never be what Canada really needs of our national police force. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">I have long described the RCMP as 133 years of tradition unhampered by progress and Palango nails it as he takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through some of the biggest headlines of the last decade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The book, published by Key Porter Books, will be in bookstores in early November.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If you care about Canada, read this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Palango takes the reader inside the corridors of power and shines a light on the cockroaches that inhabit them. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The RCMP have already begun discreet inquiries to try and determine who may have given Palango information used in this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And that, in and of itself, illustrates what is wrong with the Force.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They are a fundamentally flawed, dysfunctional organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Instead of trying to fix their myriad of issues outlined by Palango, they initiated a witch-hunt to find out who let the cat out of the bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Palango has done a significant service to the country with his work on this book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He should receive the Order of Canada for his efforts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Instead, I fear he will be attacked mercilessly for his efforts by those who believe they are entitled to their entitlements.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Wait for it, unfortunately.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Leo Knight</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p> <!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-14982907781749896412008-09-14T13:50:00.001-07:002008-09-14T13:50:32.357-07:00An affront to the braveBeing Canadian means having to accept stupidity disguised as political correctness.
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<br>I have spent much of this week on planes moving between Alberta and BC and back and forth. I was making my way at Calgary Airport to the baggage carrousal the other day and I watched a number of soldiers in battle fatigues clearing security on their way to the front lines of the war on terror being waged by extreme Islamist thugs against western democracies.
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<br>In the same week as an addle-brained spokesman for the Taliban claimed they were targetting Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan deliberately in order to have an effect on the current federal election campaign, I watched as our soldiers were being subjected to physical searches by CATSA security guards with names like Ali and Mahmoud. The female baggage screener wore a Muslim head scarf.
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<br>There was something wholly incongruous and hypocritical about what I saw.
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<br>I harbour no illusions about the efficacy of airport security in Canada. There is no doubt is it little more than an expensive pantomine to create the illusion of security for the travelling public in the post-9/11 world. But, really, couldn't we really add some actual effect to the illusion?
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<br>And I have to admit that it just pissed me off to watch a Canadian soldier who has been security cleared to a level the CATSA guard could never aspire to, being searched, in combat uniform, before getting on a plane to defend this country from the religious zealots who threaten the world and are connected by faith to the very guards supposedly protecting our flying public.
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<br> Never mind Sharia and the male dominance over the female of the species, how is it possible that political correctness can trump security in this day and age?
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<br>It's an an absolute mystery and an affront to those soldiers in combat uniform heading to a war zone who had to submit to the searches.
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<br>I was ashamed to be Canadian as I watched the scene. Unfortunately, it was not the first time.
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<br>Leo Knight
<br><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a>
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<br>- Leo Knight on BlackberryUnknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-58462500565919317882008-09-09T22:36:00.000-07:002008-09-09T22:46:19.577-07:00Spin bears no relation to the truth<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; ">Well, election madness is upon us, whether we wanted it or not. And one of the things we know inherently is that we are about to be subjected to spin on an unprecedented scale.<div><br></div><div>I received this email yesterday that I thought worth sharing with you. I thought it particularly poignant.</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; "><div dir="ltr">Hi Leo,<br><br>I just watched a local news station do a story on the dirty politics between Stephane Dion and the conservative government. They actually said that Dion wanted to "increase" the restrictions on several kinds of firearms, "including the type that was used in the Montreal Dawson College shooting." Then the story ends and they go on with the next really quickly to a service for those who recently lost their lives in the CF.<br><br>What many people don't already know is that at the time that massacre occurred, those Beretta Storm's were restricted firearms. Now they are already prohibited, at least according to my local gun store. As are all bullpup arms. So how can they increase any further restrictions on a prohibited firearm?<br><br>This upsets me because they don't bother to explain to the public the difference between non-restricted, restricted, and prohibited. They just use an angle that serves their purpose -- at the shameful expense of those victims.<br><br>I would greatly appreciate it if you could do a blog entry on firearms and this liberal spin thats been going through the news and schools. Criminals don't get guns by going through the RCMP, they illegally import them, or steal them from registered lawful owners because of the registry itself. Granted, handguns have been registered for decades, but this longarm registry needs to go -- and besides, you can't hide a 44" to 48" rifle in your pants. There are big lists by the NRA using real statistics to show that its better for us to be a lawfully armed society. They show that as criminals are more comfortable with the idea that you are not armed, crime increases. And saying that guns kill people is like saying spoons made Oprah fat. If there weren't guns and people were so dead-set on killing, there would be knives, and thats already a problem. But a person who thinks of pulling a knife on a lawful citizen who might have a carry licence would think several times before doing something stupid. You can sort in a list the States in an increasing order of gun control, and they are nearly the same states with the same order of increasing crime. That should speak volumes, but the majority of people in Canada don't recognize that each state have set their own laws, and the states where people are allowed to carry, there is virtually zero crime.<br><br>I do agree that in Canada there should remain laws about concealed weapons. We should be a shall-carry instead of a may-carry society, and wear it proudly on our hip as a symbol of lawfulness. But for whatever reason they think we'll have shootouts and high noon duelings, even though dueling (with guns or swords) has been illegal for a very long time. That is, mutually agreeing to a fight without fists. Mutual agreement of any public display of violence should be against the law, and it is in regards to disturbing the peace. But we get youtube's of schoolyard fights and the person who never wanted to fight at all has to save face and pretend it was ok on camera.<br><br>The "40 reasons for gun control" posted around the magazines, people don't see that it was written as a criticism for gun control. You have probably seen it around but if you haven't I'll attach it below for your own humour.<br><br>Thank you very much for reading,<br>I enjoy reading you,<br>Jay Demmery<br><br>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>40 Reasons For Gun Control <br>Significant portions of this article are excerpted from Michael Z. Williamson's excellent and witty piece, "It's amazing what one has to believe to believe in gun control" <br>1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.<br><br>2. Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.<br><br>3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics."<br><br>4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.<br><br>5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.<br><br>6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.<br><br>7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.<br><br>8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.<br><br>9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should "put up no defense -- give them what they want, or run" (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don't Die - People Do, 1981, p.125).<br><br>10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.<br><br>11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.<br><br>12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.<br><br>13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a "state" militia.<br><br>14. These phrases: "right of the people peaceably to assemble," "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," and "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people" all refer to individuals, but "the right of the people to keep and bear arm" refers to the state.<br><br>15. "The Constitution is strong and will never change." But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.<br><br>16. Rifles and handguns aren't necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.<br><br>17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they aren't "military weapons", but private citizens shouldn't have "assault rifles", because they are military weapons.<br><br>18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, finger printing, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940's, 1950's and1960's, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.<br><br>19. The NRA's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign is responsible social activity.<br><br>20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.<br><br>21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.<br><br>22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is "an accident waiting to happen" and gun makers' advertisements aimed at women are "preying on their fears."<br><br>23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.<br><br>24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.<br><br>25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.<br><br>26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a "weapon of mass destruction" or an "assault weapon."<br><br>27. Most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.<br><br>28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.<br><br>29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.<br><br>30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.<br><br>31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.<br><br>32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do "civilians" who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.<br><br>33. We should ban "Saturday Night Specials" and other inexpensive guns because it's not fair that poor people have access to guns too.<br><br>34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over hand guns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.<br><br>35. Private citizens don't need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.<br><br>36. Citizens don't need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.<br><br>37. "Assault weapons" have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.<br><br>38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that's bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that's good.<br><br>39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.<br><br>40. Handgun Control, Inc. says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands." Guess what? You have the wrong hands.<br></div></span></div><div><br></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-33845839411800664932008-09-01T18:55:00.003-07:002008-09-01T21:20:40.839-07:00A day late and a dollar shortI was sent a web link today to a recently launched website disturbingly critical of the Calgary Police Service. I looked at the website and am very troubled not only by the content, but by the fact they have linked primetimecrime.com as though we are somehow a part of this vitriolic diatribe. <div><br /></div><div>For the record, <a href="http://primetimecrime.com">primetimecrime.com</a> has absolutely nothing to do with www.calgarypoliceinfo.com and I fervently decry any connection to anyone who would dare to publish such a site unsupported by evidence. </div><div><br /></div><div>In looking at the information published, little seems new. Rather, it all appears to be a regurgitation of things that happened on former chief Jack Beaton's watch. Beaton deserved to be criticized and I wasn't shy doing just that. But he has retired and there is a new Chief Constable. And the new Chief Constable seems, to this observer at least, to be making a lot of right moves. </div><div><br /></div><div>No police department is perfect and no one should expect perfection of the Calgary Police Service. But, since the departure of Jack Beaton and the installation of Rick Hanson as Chief, the CPS is in the best shape it has been in since the early 90's. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know who or what is behind the publication of the website but I can suggest that whoever it is is still fighting a battle that is long since over. He or she just doesn't seem to realize that simple truth.</div><div><br /></div><div>There were a great many reasons to criticize the CPS under Jack Beaton. The current effort seems to be a day late and a dollar short.</div><div><br /></div><div>Leo Knight</div><div>primetimecrime@gmail.com</div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-91753534159279848262008-08-31T20:15:00.003-07:002008-08-31T20:40:38.709-07:00Business as usual for the Godfather of the HouseWhat really amazes me is that even in disgrace, former Liberal cabinet minister, Quebec party bagman and quite possibly the most corrupt politician this country has ever seen, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_Gagliano">Alfonso Gagliano</a>, was able to extract a <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/08/30/gagliano-farm.html">$500,000 loan</a> from an obscure arm of the federal government called Farm Credit Canada to buy a vineyard, apparently.<div><br /></div><div>Gagliano was the central figure in the Adscam debacle which ultimately undid two Liberal Prime Ministers, though both deny that essential and plainly obviously fact. He was also named by FBI snitch and career mobster Frank Lino, as a "made" guy and member of the Bonnano crime family. </div><div><br /></div><div>Is it true? I don't know. But I do know that he had much to cozy a relationship with Augustino Cuntrera when he was the accountant for some companies of the family dubbed the "Rothchilds of the Mafia." He was also a founding member, along with Cuntrera, and on the executive of a "club" called the Siculiana / Cattolica Eraclea Society in the 90's. I also know that Lino had no reason to lie at that point.</div><div><br /></div><div>Gagliano came out denying it all in the media claiming Italian discrimination. Really, it's all a plot against the Italians. He threatened a lawsuit, but none was forthcoming. One suspects that was because he could never allow himself to be cross-examined on the question. Unlike our Human Rights kangaroo courts - oops sorry - tribunals, in civil court the truth is an absolute defence.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, the "Godfather" of Parliament no longer has his "walk and talks" out behind the Parliamentary library as he smokes his cigars. But apparently, he is still able to reach into the bowels of government and extract his "taste" as needed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Leo Knight</div><div>primetimecrime.gmail.com</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11699453.post-7713063077326105462008-08-27T13:48:00.004-07:002008-08-27T14:17:03.372-07:00Under-support equals under achievement<div align="justify">Well, now that the summer’s over it must be time to get back at it. Summer’s end also marks the end of the Beijing Olympic Games. </div><div align="justify"><br />While I was on vacation I posted a quick hitter suggesting that Canada’s efforts in these Summer Games was less than stellar. I got accused of being everything from a fascist – although that one’s not particularly new – to being anti-Canadian. </div><div align="justify"><br />I thought that one was a bit rich. Are we supposed to live in this over-taxed, under-achieving nation of naval gazers, this land of two founding notions and say everything is fine lest we be accused of being anti-Canadian?</div><div align="justify"><br />What did we do at the Olympics? Sure there were some great individual achievements. I stayed up very late one evening enraptured by the race Simon Whitfield ran in the Triathalon. And the women’s diving was outstanding especially with the silver won by Emilie Heymans.</div><div align="justify"><br />And then there was Priscilla Lopes-Schliep winning Bronze in the women’s 100 metre hurdles – outstanding. The race for the gold medal captured by the men’s eight in rowing, the heavyweight event of the Olympic regatta, was gripping.</div><div align="justify"><br />But realistically, our federal government contributed a grand total of $8 million to our Olympic effort. It’s going to double for the next games. Big whoop. Australia, a country of similar size and GDP spends over ten times that. Oh, and they won 46 medals in this Olympics compared to our 18. In fact they won nearly as many Gold medals as we did medals.</div><div align="justify"><br />The media was crowing about our total of 18 medals, of them, only three were gold. We are a G-8 nation people. Go <a href="http://usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/medals.aspx?imw=Y">take a look</a> at how other G-8 countries like Australia or the UK did.</div><div align="justify"><br />Face it, we are a nation of under-achievers. Caspar Milquetoast on valium. And, I should add, that is not our heritage. It is what we have allowed ourselves to become. We are a product of a system where our children are taught by the trendy-lefties dominant in the school system that it’s good enough just to show up, that we are all equal, that everyone who participates gets a ribbon or a medal or a trophy. Of course that is absolute nonsense.</div><div align="justify"><br />But nonetheless, that is what we are allowing the socialist suckholes teaching our kids to do. While it may protect the feelings of some fat kid who can’t see past his next Twinkie, it does nothing to prepare the next generation for what awaits them in life, let alone instill in them the competitive fire in the belly necessary to be the best in the world.</div><div align="justify"><br />If we want to be the best in the world, or at least be competitive with the best in the world, we must remove the barriers for our athletes. We cannot keep them living like paupers as they bow and scrape to some butthead bureaucrat to get a few crumbs from what should be a heavily laden table. </div><div align="justify"><br />Some of the members of the Canadian Olympic team did absolutely outstanding things in these Games and for that they are to be cheered and their achievements celebrated. But they were able to achieve because they are outstanding people who understand what it takes to be among the best in the world and that it simply isn’t good enough just to show up. Their stories are the lessons our children should be taught. I don’t think that is anti-Canadian. Wanting our country to achieve more is pro-Canada and accepting mediocrity is not.</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><br />This isn't about our athletes underperforming, it is about the country underperforming in support our athletes are not given.</div><p><br />Leo Knight<br /><a href="mailto:primetimecrime@gmail.com">primetimecrime@gmail.com</a></p><p> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2